“Me voici then at Bath! And why had
you not your birthday poem? In plain downright sincere sincerity, I totally
forgot it, till on the morning of the 11th of September, when I found myself on
Poole Heath, walking through desolation*, with that gloomy capability which my
nativity-caster marks as among the prominent features of my character. We left
Burton yesterday morning: the place was very quiet and I was very comfortable,
nor know I when to expect again so pleasant a summer. We live in odd times,
Grosvenor; and even in the best
periods of this bad society, the straightest path is most cursedly crooked.

“I shall be with you in November; send me my Coke, I pray you. I want law food, and though
not over hungry, yet must I eat and execrate like Pistol.

* See antè, p. 23.

Ætat. 23.

OF ROBERT SOUTHEY.

323

. . . . . Something odd came into my head a few hours
since. I was feeling that the love of letter writing had greatly gone from me,
and, enquiring why; my mind is no longer agitated by hopes and fears, no longer
doubtful, no longer possessed with such ardent enthusiasm: it is quiet, and
repels all feelings that would disturb that state. When I write I have nothing
to communicate, for you know all my opinions and feelings; and no incidents can
occur to one settled as I am. . . . .

Yours sincerely,

R. S.”

Grosvenor Charles Bedford (1773-1839)
The son of Horace Walpole's correspondent Charles Bedford; he was auditor of the
Exchequer and a friend of Robert Southey who contributed to several of Southey's
publications.

Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634)
Attorney general and speaker of the House of Commons under Queen Elizabeth; he published
Institutes of the Lawes of England, or, A Commentarie upon
Littleton (1628).

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INFORMATION FROM TEI HEADER

Source Description:

Authors:
Charles Cuthbert Southey; Robert Southey

Title:The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey (London: 1849-1850).

Electronic Edition:

Series: Lord Byron and his Times: http://lordbyron.org

Encoding Description: Any dashes occurring in line breaks have been removed. Obvious and unambiguous compositors’ errors have been silently corrected.

Markup and editing by: David Hill Radcliffe

Completed October 2011

Publication Statement:

Publisher: Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Tech